County consolidation could launch shift of Stonebridge offices to apartments

The five-story Stonebridge Office Building and two-story office/retail building in the Flats

The consolidation of many Cuyahoga County employees into new headquarters from offices the county rented or buildings it is disposing of may trigger the conversion to apartments of two buildings at the Stonebridge complex in the Flats.

Doug Price, CEO of Willoughby-based K&D Group, said his company is “running the numbers” and likely will convert its five-story Stonebridge Office Building, 2019 Center St., and a two-story office/retail building, at 2020 Center St., to apartments.

The trigger for developing a new plan is the departure of employees from the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works to the new county building at 912 Prospect Ave. from the Stonebridge office building. The county had leased space for the department in the building since its 2001 opening. Another major tenant, Cleveland.com, exited to join other Northeast Ohio Media Group operations at the former Plain Dealer building at 1801 Superior Ave.

“We just have Lucca's (Italian restaurant) and one small office tenant in the building,” Price said. The empty building across the street may also go to apartments, Price said, because he believes the office market is “too tough” to try to refill the space with businesses.

He should know. K&D Group's recently announced plan to buy the Leader Building, 530 W. Superior Ave., for future conversion to apartments, is part of a trend of developers snapping up old office buildings to repurpose them for residential. K&D also has converted three other downtown office buildings to apartments, including the just opened Residences at 1717 in the one-time East Ohio Gas Building on East Ninth St.

The hip-roofed building at 2020 Center, a former tool and die shop, primarily was designed as a nightclub and coffee shop in 2007 to provide services to tenants at the eight surrounding Stonebridge apartment and condo buildings. However, the concept proved no stronger than the cavalcade of short-lived restaurants and nightclubs before K&D acquired it. The piazza building also went in as K&D developed the 12-story Stonebridge Plaza condo building next door.

The 2020 Center building also went into service at a time K&D had an aggressive plan to add more apartment buildings on Center Street north toward Lake Erie, but it abandoned that approach in the recession and housing bust. In all, K&D developed more than 500 dwelling units at Stonebridge before it shifted its attention to developing residential rentals on the other side of the river in Cleveland's central business district.

Geoff Coyle, managing partner of the Ostendorf-Morris Co. unit of Hanna Chartwell LLC, declined to talk about efforts to market the Flats office space for K&D.

Instead, he said, “I don't think anyone knows better how to size up the opportunities for development of apartments in Cleveland than (Doug Price and Karen Paganini).”

As far as the fate goes of other rented spaces in older office buildings the county will vacate in its consolidation drive, Coyle said it is too soon to tell.

However, there is some irony in K&D's move to put apartments in the building. At the time it developed offices at Stonebridge in the Flats, Price called it a diversification move for the company.

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